1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to improving execution performance of applications.
2. Background Information
In the past decade, performance of microprocessor based computer systems have increased dramatically. In particular, the operating speed of microprocessors have increased from the meager 16 Mega Hertz (MHz) to well over 300 MHz. Correspondingly, while not as dramatic, performance of system and input/output (I/O) buses have also improved substantially, ensuring the microprocessors have adequate data with which to work with. However, except for the improvement provided by buffering etc., the performance of disk drives have lagged behind. As a result, users are often deprived of the full benefit of the increased performance supplied by the microprocessors.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,456, a disk block allocation optimization methodology for generating an alternate disk block allocation based on the order a set of disk blocks are accessed, having particular application to improving an application or an operating system's start up or boot time, was disclosed. Employing the disclosed methodology, a user is able to perceive a difference in performance in an application/operating system's start up/boot time, between e.g. a system equipped with a 100 MHz microprocessor versus one equipped with a 200 MHz microprocessor.
Since then, microprocessor performance has continued to improve without abatement, allowing a user to execute a multitude of tasks of one or more applications concurrently. Once again, because of the performance constraints of disk drives, users are often deprived of the full benefit, even for systems endowed with the above mentioned disk block reallocation technology. Users of these systems are unable to perceive significant improvement in performance beyond application/operating system start up/boot time. Thus, further improvement to enable users to enjoy the full benefit of increased microprocessor performance is desired.